Twins
by AdrenalineRush16
Summary: 2nd place in Laelyn's Fall Challenge.  Pre-strike.  One newsie can't understand what is wrong with his twin.  Kloppman gives some advice.


_Laelyn's Fall Challenge: The challenge is to write a one-shot about a newsy, who is not one of our beloved boys. This newsy cannot be female, nor can any supporting characters be female. It can however be about one of those nameless newsies from the film if you would like. The story must take place in 1899. It must be written in the third person. No limit on the number of words in one-shot._

_Many thanks to Laelyn for getting me back into the swing of things by issuing a challenge, as well as helping a great deal with the names. :) _

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**Twins**

****Every morning when he woke up, Spade punched the mattress above him. He always slept on the bottom bunk. He had once tried to sleep on the top, but he kept rolling off. Whether his equilibrium was really thrown off or it was all in his mind, he didn't sleep well that night. Thus, he had always left the top to his twin brother and that suited the twins just fine.

A smile came over Spade's face as the thought came to him. His _twin_. Other newsies always protested that the whole pack was a family, a bunch of brothers. But Spade knew better. Oh, he was close to the other boys too but there was something so special in having a twin brother that nothing could ever replace it.

They knew things about one another that no one else could. Not only from knowing one another from birth and never being separated, but just mental things, even if they hadn't shared it with the other. Those incidences were rare however; he couldn't think of a secret off the top of his head that his brother _didn't_ know. They were inseparable and never went anywhere without the other.

Some of the boys joked that the twins were mystical and could read each other's minds. The boy smirked at that. How silly, not to mention impossible. But he and his brother did think alike and this resulted in sometimes speaking the same things at the same time. This of course added to their "mysticism" and no matter how they argued, the other boys in the lodging house insisted that there was something different about the twins.

That's what they were called by everyone; the twins. The two naturally had their own Christian names, but they never went by them. Newsboys in 1899 didn't anyway. However, unlike most newsboys, they weren't always referred to by their newsie names either. They had them for sure – nearly every newsie did—but more often than not, they weren't called by Ace and Spade. The explanation was that everyone had too tough a time telling them apart that they weren't sure which one was which. Both brothers had long given up on trying to tell the other boys the difference. To the twins, however, the physical difference was obvious. Ace had a slightly narrower face with dark brown eyes. Spade's face was fuller and his eyes were a lighter shade of brown. But no one ever noticed those differences and if they did, they couldn't remember which name belonged to which face. So it was indeed a hopeless cause to try to correct the other newsboys.

Naturally, the twins were different in other respects as well. Ace was thoughtful and quiet whereas Spade tended to be more loud and energetic. It didn't matter thought. The twins were brothers and rarely left each other. It wasn't that they were anti-social; there was just no one else the other would rather be with than his twin.

Or so it seemed. But lately Spade had been noticing something in Ace. His normally serious and focused brother had become more and more prone to stare dreamily off into space. Ace still sold his papers in the same general area as his brother but had been slowly inching his way farther and farther away from where Spade was. In fact, Spade often didn't have Ace in his sight anymore while selling. In everything, Spade had typically led while Ace followed, still thinking for the both of them though. But not now. Ace had become less and less intellectual and more dreamy, almost goony. It was astonishing to Spade. His twin's behavior worried Spade but he didn't know what to do about it. Spade had talked to Ace about everything in their lives up until that moment; why did he find it so hard to talk to his brother now?

Spade had kept his peace in the beginning but as the days wore on, Ace's behavior became stranger and stranger until one night, he left the Lodging House, claiming to go for a walk by himself. Spade was shocked. For one thing, Ace had been on his feet all day; why should he want to walk for fun? Also, Ace never went anywhere without Spade. Spade wracked his brain for answers.

"Anything wrong twin?" Kloppman gently asked Spade as he stared worriedly out the window to his brother's retreating form.

Spade inwardly sighed. He had never talked about Ace to any of the other boys. But with Ace's strange behavior and new habits, Spade wasn't exactly feeling picky.

"Have you noticed anything strange about Ace lately?" Spade finally asked.

"Well, I'd have to figure out which one he was first wouldn't I?" Kloppman said with a smile.

Spade rolled his eyes. "You know which of us is which Kloppy."

"That I do," said Kloppman, still smiling, as he settled himself into a creaky chair next to Spade's. "I may be the only one in this house who does know as a matter of fact." It was true. Kloppman had always been able to tell the twins apart.

Spade chuckled grimly. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"So what do you think is wrong with Ace?" Kloppman asked gently.

Spade sighed. "Well, he's just been…odd lately. He's been off on his own more and we're _never_ apart."

"Feeling lonely?" Kloppman prodded.

Spade shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. "I…don't know. It's just weird without him." Spade looked directly at Kloppman. "He's changing and I don't know why. We've always understood each other perfectly and now I don't get him at all."

"What don't you get?" Kloppman asked.

Spade sighed. "Well, for example, he daydreams a lot now. It used to be that he was always the smart one, who was more focused. But now, he's always daydreaming and staring off into space. He doesn't care about the horse races anymore or cards. He's lost interest in everything." Spade ended with his voice getting more strained and irritated. "He won't even tell me what's wrong. He just brushes me off whenever I bring it up."

Kloppman sat back with a small hint of a smile on his face.

"What?" Spade snapped.

"Looks like Ace has finally fallen for what all boys do eventually," Kloppman said knowingly, pulling out his pipe and lighting it.

"Fallen for what?" Spade asked suspiciously.

Kloppman took a puff and blew a smoke ring. Then with great amusement, he winked and said; "Girls."

Spade was taken aback. Girls? The thought had never come to him. Of course, it's not like Spade had never noticed girls before; it was hard not to notice when a showgirl suddenly latched herself onto you, cooing about what a handsome young lad you were, but Spade had never taken those girls advances very seriously. Spade considered himself free and didn't like the idea of being attached to a person of the opposite sex. He had seen what that did to boys his age; it made them act silly and ridiculous. Spade never saw the attraction that girls offered and with Ace around, Spade didn't need anyone else. It was what he thought Ace had believed too. Until now…

"Girls?" he echoed.

Kloppman nodded, beginning to rock back and forth in his chair, still puffing away on his pipe. "Of course," he said smoothly. "Boys your age generally do start falling for women; I did your age."

"Thirteen?" Spade said distastefully.

Kloppman shrugged. "Sure. In fact, many boys come around before you."

_Like Jack and Kid Blink, _Spade thought scornfully. He began to wonder aloud. "But how-?"

"Its natural," Kloppman explained cutting him off. "Ace has just found some lady that he finds attractive and has obviously not told you because he's embarrassed."

Spade scoffed. "That's pathetic."

"Love is," Kloppman agreed. "But Ace has it and someday, you will too."

Spade scowled and stood up. "Never in a hundred years," he vowed and left the room.

Kloppman smiled and kept rocking. He was old and had seen many boys come and go. Not one of them had not suffered the mysteries of love. Spade was no exception.

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A/N: Man, I haven't had writer's block this bad for a while! ;) Anyway, this turned out a lot different than I planned but I liked it. I rarely write OCs for the _Newsies _fandom that are set in the orignal time period so this was definitely a challenge for me. I hope you all enjoy how it turned out. Drop me a review please!

CTB,

-Adren


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